Tritoon - Jack Plate or Not?

[Southerntoon]

Still Trying to dial in my 24ft tritoon and Honda 200 14.25x17 prop. Some have pointed out that my motor is probably set to low and needs to be raised. Brings me to the subject of a Jack Plate so that the motor can be lowered and raised with more ease. What are pros and cons of a Jack Plate?

Also spoke with previous owner. He had a merc 225 with a 15.25x22 prop and says the boat would do 62mph at 5700-5800 rpms. Right now with the Honda 200 14.25x17 prop I am only seeing 38-40 mph at 5000 rpms.

Let me know what you think?

[dockholiday]

Think the jack plate would be warranted given you set up. Bryden is our local jack plate specialist here. Not sure if the honda has different gearing but I was able to turn 5300 with 17p mirage plus which was the first prop, I tried with the 150 when new. You should probably be able to get in the 45mph (gps) range with the 200 unless you boat is extremely heavy. Do you have strakes on the boat? Now my speedo says I am doing 55 at 40, but it ain't so.........
doc

[Southerntoon]

Yes all three toons have lifting strakes

[dockholiday]

Yes all three toons have lifting strakes

Sounds like you are in good shape. Think I would try to dial the prop in first then look at adding a jackplate. What make of prop are you running now? Sure seems you should be getting more rpms with the 17p. Any chance the tach isn't reading properly. Oh what lake or area are you on?
doc

[Southerntoon]

I guess anything is possible. RPM is a new Honda gauge believed to be wired properly. Prop is a Honda 4 Blade 14.25x17. I running the boat in Mississippi in A Large Man made reservoir fed by the pearl river.

[Bamaman]

I agree with Doc about working on the prop before resorting to the jack plate.

You didn't say the brand of your boat, but Bennington recently replied on their forum that adding a hydraulic jack plate, especially one with a 10" setback, could put untold stresses on the transom. A hydraulic jack plate is a $1K addition, but a 5 1/2" setback manual jack plate might be a good addition for $250-350. Sometimes, getting a engine at the right height is just a couple of inches change. Pontoons/tritoons are different animals than a bass boat when it comes to setup and propping.

And: Your previous owner seems terribly optimistic about the performance of your boat with a 2 stroke engine. Tritoons can get often into the mid 40's with larger engines (200-250 hp), but any faster takes mega horsepower. Yea, you might see 60 mph with one of the 300 hp Mercury Pro XS 2 stroke Racing Series motors turning 7500 rpm's, but they're very loud and not good for pontoon boat use.

[NH Tooner]

i just finished building my tritoon today. I installed a jack plate because I had a 25" motor.5.5" setback. I have not tried it out yet. I paid 750 new for it. there is a good shot of it in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mizeTOL ... e=youtu.be

[dockholiday]

I guess anything is possible. RPM is a new Honda gauge believed to be wired properly. Prop is a Honda 4 Blade 14.25x17. I running the boat in Mississippi in A Large Man made reservoir fed by the pearl river.

crossed my mind it might be a four blade. they are great for hole shots but not so good for top end. enertia make a great prop for toons. I felt it was worth the extra money and almost everyone here has been satisfied with their performance. They come in 1 p increments so you can get it dialed in rpm wise and the top end should come along with it. not sure of the exact pitch you might need but thinking 17 to 19. making the 18 a good starting point. Probably put the mph in the high 40's or low 50's.
doc...........forgot to say your tach is probably dead on............

[Bryden24shp]

First of all, you need to see where the cavitation plate is running at WOT. You need it to be just on top of the waters surface. If its there, your good. If its under the surface, bring the motor up on the transom before going to a jack plate. The jack plate is needed only if you can't get the cavitation plate out of the water. But if you go too high and pull any of the water inlets out of the water, you're gonna suck air into the impellor, and ruin it. My 250 E-tec couldn't be rasied on the transom enough to get it out, so I put on the jack plate. 10" offset was perfect, to get it up and into clean water. First problem, the center pontoons transom diameter (27") was too small. the bottom of the jack plate, was dragging in the water. Had to build a plate under the transom to deflect the water away from the jack plate. Problem number 2, when running the jack plate up, you need to constantly watch your water pressure, because of the lower unit water intakes, mentioned above, pulling your eyes from where they should be, watching where you are going. Only takes a split second to hit a log or another boat. If you don't have a water pressure gauge with a jack plate, your flirting with disaster. My Premier has a 25" shaft and is set up almost perfect, now that it is raised high enough on the transom. I do miss it for shallow water. I loved getting into the spots where no one else would venture into, for some quiet time with the 'way better" half. If I get bored with it, it might see one, yet. Plus, by getting it out of the water alittle more, alittle more speed will be gained. Maybe another 2 or 3 mph. They are fun to play with, but if you let someone else drive, you have to hawk them so they won't burn up your power head. They have there good and bad sides...

By the way, the previous owner is full of crap, he never saw 62 on that set up. high 40's, low 50's ya... My Manitou would run high 50's. Sometimes mid 70's, but the pontoons where blueprinted, the underskinning was tabbed down to lift the stern. Prop was a lab finished 26 pitch Raker getting 8% slip at 5600 R's and it was being pulled behind my pick up to the Lake of the Ozarks, or Lake Michigan or....

[Bryden24shp]

If I do get one, this will be it. This is the best you can buy, in my opinion. Teleflex Pro Trim switch, is real nice.
This is about the best price I found it... My CMC was nice, but the bushings were getting loose after 5 years of pretty hard use (abuse). The Detwiler is just alot heavier duty, and since I'll probably keep this boat 4ever. This is what I'll buy next time around.

http://www.boatownersworld.com/detwiler ... linone.htm

OH HELL WITH IT!
I'm puttin in a lot of OT at the plant., was gonna buy a DPMS AR10 .308 for myself and give the Bushmaster to my wife for S's & giggles...
But now that you got me thinkin jack plate, again (Thank you very much)
I'm gonna buy one for the Premier!
That 25" shaft is a long sucker and I miss the shallows already!
Bryan

[Southerntoon]

Here are a few pictures. I have so much spray going on it is hard to say if the cavitation plate is at or slightly above the water. The Honda is a short shaft and presently is set as low as it can bolt straight up.

While I also doubt the previous owners but he really had no reason to lie other than pure ego. He didn't sell me the boat. He lost his job do to his inability to work after a bad car accident and had to turn the boat back into the finance company. The boat and trailer went to one finance company and the motor to the other. I am a car dealer and purchased the boat and trailer at an auction and that is why I repowered it. I tracked him down and he was nice enough considering the situation to discuss what he had powering the boat and how it worked for him.

I do not care one bit about doing 62 mph. In the 40's would be nice if needed but my main problem right now is that the Honda 200 is not reaching its optimum rpm range of 5800 rpms.

[Bamby]

It's hard to determine really anything from all the wash in the photo's and the their angle. But it does appear that you may not be utilizing the trim properly. At speed especially the motor should be trimmed up a bit to create some lift on the front of the boat to get the best performance and speed.

But their seems to be maybe be other potential issues that may also need addressed. If you trailer your boat could you post some additional photos of the back of your boat, and transom, from some various angles to see if we can sort this out a bit.. Maybe someone could then spot the potential problem(s).

[Bryden24shp]

Ya, from the bottom picture it looks way too low. You can see the spray hitting the Hyd Steering cylinder and hoses. It needs to come up alot. I would raise it as high as it will go, first. Then try it. Instead of the hassle of a jack plate, you can buy a Set back plate for a reasonable amount of money, that will fix it for ya, too. Then you don't have to worry about the wiring, drilling the dash for gauges and switches, ect. I'm actually thinking of doing this, myself. A weekend project for $1400 by the time I'm done. Or an hour project for $200.00. Plus. my new DPMS!

http://www.dhcampingandfishingsupply.com/hdsj60.html

This will work on your 200 Horse...

Here are some pics of where mine is on the transom and a pic from the side.

Like Bamby said, get us pictures of the set up on the trailer. One of the transom and one from the side. We can judge it better for you.

[wishihad]

I have a jackplate on my TriToon and love it! It really gives me the flexabiliy to trim my toon just right depending on conditions and load.

[JDB]

You definately have serious issues with spray deflection around the motor. Lots of pics of that underside / motor mount area would be helpful. On our previous toon the steering cable alone made a 1-2 mph difference when we pulled it up out of the spray with a bungee cord. This was back to back A B A testing. You need to consider some sheet metal work for sure.